Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 1989
In 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's pristine waters, creating an environmental nightmare. The slick wiped out 250,000 seabirds, 3,000 sea otters, 300 seals, and 22 killer whales. The disaster began when Captain Joseph Hazelwood let an unlicensed third mate steer the ship straight into Bligh Reef, a well-known hazard.
The Exxon Valdez spill didn't just poison wildlife-it also indirectly influenced Wall Street. The cleanup's massive financial fallout helped inspire credit default swaps, a financial instrument that later fueled the global financial crisis. Hazelwood, controversially, never lost his master's license, which remained valid until his death in 2022. Pop culture even referenced him: he's called "Saint Joe" in Waterworld. As for the infamous tanker, it kept sailing under different names for decades before being scrapped in India in 2012, 23 years after the disaster.